There are many initiatives designed to enable women to exercise “traditionally” male trades. In Saint-Nazaire, between 1999 and 2003, the training programmes set up at companies, with State aid, have had a range of consequences for the women that work in the shipbuilding sector. The drive toward the employment of both men and women and, beyond this, toward equal employment opportunities for men
... [Show full abstract] and women, reflects a proactive policy on the part of the employers, as illustrated, in light of a shortage of male labour, through a comparison of a subcontractor firm with the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard. Where there is no such policy, we find a reinforcement of gender stereotypes and the use of women in the workplace as a balancing variable.
